“Anyone who has driven this stretch of I-75 during rush hour, and I know it well, knows how frustrating it can be,” Porcari said. He visits his daughter at UD three or four times each semester, he said.
Traffic jams can mean getting to work late, spending less time with family, and paying more to fill your gas tank, Porcari said.
“By increasing the capacity from two lanes to three in each direction, by improving mobility, enhancing operations and upgrading safety, we will transform this area from a headache into a modern, efficient urban freeway,” he said.
Porcari toured the project’s second phase Friday. The $550 million project includes $452 million in federal aid.
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, said the project to widen and modernize I-75 through Dayton supports economic growth in the region.
“Transportation has always been important to the continued economic growth of the Dayton region,” Turner said. Past I-75 projects have involved maintenance and repairs, said Randy Chevalley, Ohio Department of Transportation District 7 deputy director. “This is truly the first job where we’ve added capacity and new construction,” he said.
The first two phases of the project are both on budget. Each is only a few months behind its original target completion date, solely because of weather-related delays, according to ODOT officials.
“When those two (phases) are done you will have three continuous lanes through Dayton,” Chevalley said. “That was our goal, and if we ran out of money we’d at least have those two done.”
The third phase, which will reconstruct the area between Fifth Street and Riverview Avenue, is in the design stage, Chevalley said.
This phase will replace the various left-side and right-side ramps with a single, centrally located interchange for downtown Dayton. The third phase has an estimated overall cost of $280 million.
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